A FORMER Chester police chief turned city councillor has called for more bobbies on the beat.

A FORMER Chester police chief turned city councillor has called for more bobbies on the beat.

Cllr David Hughes was second in command at Chester until his retirement 10 years ago but now represents Lache Park ward on the city council.

The ex-chief inspector is uneasy with the current approach being practised not just in Cheshire but in every force in the country.

The thinking is that the most effective way of detecting crime is to put resources into in-telligenceled policing rather than constables.

Cllr Hughes, 59, said: 'The chief constable is required to reduce levels of crime with targets for specific crimes like crimes of violence, burglary,theft of motor vehicles. To do that, he had to deploy his strength accordingly.

'My perception is the presence of uniformed officers on the streets is very much reduced but I am assured there are more police operating in Chester trying to deal with all aspects of crime and disorder than ever before but you may not see them because they are working in plain clothes.'

Cllr Hughes added: '20 years ago we had a much higher level of visible uniformed presence. Today there is a view that it is ineffective. It doesn t reduce crime but it certainlyin my view reduces the fear of crime and re -duces levels of anti-social behaviour.'

Cllr Hughes also believes a uniformed presence can build up a good relationship with the community if the boys and girls in blue turn up promptly when an incident is reported. This n turn leads to a better flow of information between police and public because people feel it is worthwhile reporting what is going on.

He added: 'If the public contact the police and they don't get the response they feel they deserve, they probably wrongly feel the police have no interest in it. They eventually stop reporting incidents as a result.

'When the police look at their intelligence base they look at an area and see there are no complaints from an area and so there is no problem. It's a vicious circle. The level of policing then drops even though the problems could be getting worse.'

Cllr Hughes, who lives in Woodlands Drive, Newton, served 30 years in the Cheshire Constabulary and like every officer he started off as a police constable pounding the beat in Hoylake when it was part of the county.

He admits the society he began policing has changed beyond all recognition.

'It's a totally different society. When I was at Hoylake, where I served for two years, there was only one crime on my beat while I was on duty. That is a recordable crime. It was a burglary at Caldy rugby club. I got hauled out of bed at 10am and was asked how this had occurred.

'It was the days before radios and you rode on your bike. I had checked it twice during the night in fact.'

He stresses the police cannot be expected to solve crime on their own and that the comunity and other agencies like local authorities had to play their part.

'Crime is not the sole responsibility of the police. It's the responsibility of the wider community. The police authority has a large part to play. The local housing authority, be it a trust or council, has a really significant part to play. The community itself has a large part to play. Schools do a tremendous job.

'No-one can deal with the problems on their own. To say it is a police problem only is absolute nonsense.'